


Invitations

by Blue_Robin



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Drinks, F/M, One Shot, The Tottenham
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 23:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18271193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Robin/pseuds/Blue_Robin
Summary: GreenMountainGirl gave me a One Shot Prompt on Tumblr this morning:Robin and Strike in a bar and she is getting drinks 'cause his leg hurts but she is getting hit on and he wants to help but doesn't want to take over.





	Invitations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [greenmountaingirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenmountaingirl/gifts).



> I wrote this sporadically, with many interruptions throughout my day today. I haven't had a chance to proofread, but I will and I'll make changes as needed...So apologies if it stinks. I'll fix it.

“Another?” Robin asked as she set down her now empty wine glass. It was her second of the evening and he grinned at her as he glanced at the glass and then back at her with a raised eyebrow. “Oh hush. I don’t live far from here, so I’ll be fine,” she waved him off as she scooted her chair back and stood up, picking up their glasses to carry them back to the bar.

As she turned away he allowed his eyes to slide along the curves outlined by her simple black skinny jeans and navy blouse. Her form had become so familiar to him over the last few years but that hadn’t stopped him from experiencing an increasing appreciation for it. Especially not since they’d lowered their barriers enough to allow for hugs. Now he occasionally got to feel those curves pressed against him.

He hardly ever allowed himself to remember how her body felt pressed tightly to his.

He started as she paused and glanced back at him over her shoulder. His eyes flew to her face so fast he was sure the pupils rattled around his irises like pinballs. “Chips?” she asked. He wondered if he was imagining the sparkle in her eye as he nodded his answer and then lowered his gaze to the table top.  The scars in the wood really were rather interesting.

Chips would be a good thing with her this deep in wine. Chips would prevent her from relaxing into “Soft Robin.” This was the Robin that most tempted him. Soft Robin had soft eyes that tended to linger on his. Soft Robin had lips that became pillows, lips that she nibbled on during their conversations more than she usually did. Lips that practically begged him to test their softness with his own. Soft Robin had a softer voice, more melodious, her vowels more rounded with her Yorkshire roots.

Soft Robin was an invitation he wasn’t sure he was allowed to accept.

He leaned back against the booth back and allowed his eyes to roam the pub, trying, and failing to avoid landing on Robin. She was standing at the bar, her back to him, one foot propped on the rung connected to the floor as she leaned against the bar to give Tom, the barkeep, her order.

Cormoran could see the curve of her cheek as she smiled at something in Tom’s response. Watched her shake her head and gesture toward their table with a quick glance back to him.

He also saw the two blokes who’d just entered the pub and reached the bar, take notice of the pretty golden-haired woman laughing with the bartender.

The darker haired of the two didn’t hesitate. Cormoran couldn’t hear what was being said, but he could see the way Dark Hair sidled along the bar before stopping just next to Robin. He imagined, from the way Dark Hair was motioning to the wineglass Tom had already topped up that he was either asking her what she was drinking, or if he could possibly buy her a drink. He also imagined Robin was trying to be polite as she declined.

There…She was shaking her head and smiling. Dark Hair reached to tap the wine glass and she suddenly broke into peals of laughter. Then she tucked her hair behind her ear.

Dark Hair leaned closer. His head angling closer to Robin’s.

Cormoran focused closer on Robin at this point. Hoping her body language would give him any clue about her feelings. Did she want this guys attention? Or not.

Tom turned back to Robin and placed a pint glass in front of her. She nodded her thanks and reached to pick it up, but Dark Hair, once again, intervened.

This time she stepped back, putting distance between herself and Dark Hair. She picked up his pint and tilted her head toward their table. Her lips were in profile, but he could see them moving quickly, along with the slight lowering of her brow, indicating that she wasn’t best pleased at the moment.

He relaxed into his seat and prepared for the show.  

Her head turned back to Tom, who started nodding rapidly at her as he stepped away and started pulling another pint.

What was she doing? Was she buying Dark Hair a drink?

That didn’t make sense.

Dark Hair stepped toward her again, this time reaching toward her as though he was going to touch her face.

Cormoran leaned forward, prepared to spring into action, but very aware that Robin was capable of handling herself.

All at once she swung into action as her voice rang out, “I said no!” Her left hand coming up to bat Dark Hair’s hand away, which her right hand, the one holding his pint, thrust forward, splashing the contents of the glass into Dark Hair’s face.

Tom had already placed a replacement pint on the bar in front of her which she snapped up along with her wine glass as she raised her voice once again, “Would you like some wine this time?” She bared her teeth in a mirthless smile as she watched Dark Hair swipe a hand across his face, trying to remove the foam gathering in his dusting of facial hair.

He shook his head and held his hands up in surrender as his friend seemed to urge him to come away.

Tom picked up a bar rag and started to mop up the splashes left on the bar by Robin’s baptism of beer, shaking his head and grinning. He jerked his head toward the pub doors, indicating, Cormoran supposed, that the two needed to leave. Before turning back to Robin and calling out, “Those chips’ll be right along.”

“Thanks Tom,” she called back over her shoulder as she approached their table.

She set his pint in front of him before taking her seat. He picked it up and made a show of taking a huge gulp. Swallowing half of it in almost one go.

He glanced at her as she lifted her glass to her lips and she quirked her eyebrows in silent question.

“Well, I figure if there’s nothing in it when I piss you off at me next time, you can’t chuck it in my face.” He shrugged.

She snorted a laugh, “Trust me…There’s no way you could piss me off the way he just did.”

“Looked like he was hitting on you.”

“Oh, he was. He most certainly was.”

“I see. And I’d never hit on you, so I couldn’t piss you off that way. Right.”

“Well. You’ve never hit on me before,” and he watched as a slow grin moved across her face. “But I wouldn’t be mad if you did.”

“Oh?” Something jumped from his stomach to his throat. Strangling him.

“Mmmm.” Her eyes met his over the rim of her wine glass as she drank half of it down in one go.

His eyes lingered on the lip she was biting.

Soft Robin was issuing an invitation again.

And he’d just been given permission to accept.


End file.
